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Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk 2009 - The Stars we See at Night-, originally uploaded by I-SEEN-IT. Light pollution obscures all but the brightest celestial bodies from shining on Houston. But in a way, we've created our own stars and constellations that hang far above us and can be seen from space. Thanks to I Seen It for another great picture.

The colons are placeholders for something else that may or may not be coming. HAIF:maps will probably be back, but not for a little bit. I have some other things to work on first. Integrating it into the new system is considerably different/harder than the old system. Also, I still haven't decided where to show the map, since people were pretty unhappy about losing 22 pixels at the top of the screen. I'm considering putting it after the first post of each page, or possibly making it super tiny and putting it under the breadcrumb bar.

There's a big article in Tuesday's (August 4, 2009) Women's Wear Daily about how with malls struggling, smaller stores are getting a chance to expand into high-profile areas they couldn't afford before. One of the retailers profiled is Charming Charlie, which is based in Houston. I hadn't heard of it before, but it looks like it's a home-grown version of Claire's. The article says Charming Charlie has 23 stores, and plans to open 15 new ones this year in the Houston Galleria and other locations in the south and southwest. The article also has a big interior photo of the Galleria.

this old house, originally uploaded by jfre81. It looks more Berkshire Valley than Buffalo Bayou, but jfre81 made this great picture of a well-preserved house in Houston's Sixth Ward.

Thread closed.

HOUSTON – (Aug. 5, 2009) – Sarah Whiting, a member of the Princeton University School of Architecture faculty and an expert in urban and architectural theory, has been named dean of the Rice University School of Architecture. Whiting will take the helm Jan. 1, 2010, from John Casbarian, the school's longtime associate dean who is serving as dean until Dec. 31, 2009. Lars Lerup stepped down as dean earlier this year after 16 years and will return to Rice in 2010 as a professor. “Sarah Whiting’s strengths as a teacher, author and designer are clear, and she brings abundant energy and intellect to Rice,” President David Leebron said. “Her aspirations for the School of Architecture align perfectly with the goals we set for Rice in the Vision for the Second Century, in particular our commitment to broaden and deepen our interaction with our home city of Houston. Under Sarah's leadership, we expect our already acclaimed school to be at the forefront of innovation in architecture education and enterprise.” Whiting, a native of Evanston, Ill., comes to Rice with extensive experience. Before joining Princeton in 2005, she was at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design for six years. Prior to that, she taught at the University of Kentucky, the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Florida. She earned her Bachelor of Arts at Yale, a master of architecture at Princeton and her Ph.D. in the history, theory and criticism of art, architecture and urban form at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a principal of WW Architecture, a firm she co-founded with her husband, Ron Witte, she is currently working on projects for the drama division of the Juilliard School in New York and the Golden House, a private residence in Princeton, N.J. Before forming WW, she worked with Rem Koolhaas at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where she was a designer on a number of architectural, urban and writing projects, including the master planning of Euralille, a business center in Lille, France, that opened in 1994. Perhaps best known for her professional criticism, Whiting has published dozens of articles on urban and architectural theory. In addition to editing several journals, she has edited books on Ignasi de Solà-Morales and James Carpenter and is the series editor of "POINT," a new architectural book series to be published by Princeton University Press next spring. She is the author of the forthcoming book "Superblock City." "I feel the variety of her experiences is a real asset," said Rice Provost Eugene Levy. "She's been on the faculty of a diverse set of institutions, which has fostered a broad set of perceptions and openness to thinking about the challenges of the discipline and the challenges of leadership that will be extremely valuable." "Leading the Rice School of Architecture is a dream job,” Whiting said. “Because it is small, everyone — faculty and students alike — is engaged. The dean is not a distanced administrator like at big architecture schools, but is right in there focusing the school’s ambition.” Whiting calls architecture "a public form of culture." "Architecture can -- has to -- invigorate the public realm," she said. "This is a two-pronged project: It is an intellectual project for academia and an immediate project for practice." Whiting takes over a school that has earned a sterling reputation in recent years. The School of Architecture was ranked No. 8 in the nation by the Design Futures Council in January and has been among the top 10 programs for the last decade. The school's graduate program has consistently been among the country's top 20. She could not help but notice that Rice University was named last week as the Princeton Review's No. 1 school for "best quality of life" and last month as one of the Chronicle of Higher Education's “Great Colleges to Work For.” “Both were absolute affirmations of what I sensed when I came to campus," she said. "Everything felt just right — poised for new possibilities. I can’t wait to take on those new horizons come January.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6557448.html Thoughts?

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-hotel_0802gd.ART0.State.Edition1.4c5924b.html

Not In My Back Yard!, originally uploaded by bill barfield. Bill Barfield had a great caption for his picture of the Williams Tower: "Martha always had the feeling that the neighbors looked down on her." Too funny.

METRO POLICE TO RECEIVE $3M IN FEDERAL STIMULUS FUNDS METRO police made the list of 15 transit agencies across the country that will get a boost from federal stimulus funds. METRO’s $3 million award comes from the pool of $78 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP) funds – money aimed to help transit agencies better equip themselves to prevent acts of terrorism. METRO’s police department will use the money to hire 10 police officers - two of the spots will be filled with explosives detection canines. “Any additional resources will help us to make the system safer,” said METRO’s Assistant Chief of Police Tim Kelly. “Police officers are the backbone of what we do. This money will help us get more officers on the force to help with our day-to-day operations, such as conducting random patrols which help deter terrorism and reduce crime.” Transit agencies are able to use the funds to hire new police officers or anti-terrorism personnel, purchase anti-terrorism equipment, and to obtain and train canines for explosives detection. Though these funds will help METRO police better guard against potential terrorist acts, Kelly urges the public to be its partner in safety. To report any suspicious behavior, call METRO police at 713-224-2677 or dial #MPD on your cell phone.

Got an e-mail last night saying that the Hilton at the University of Houston is going to get a big renovation. The rooms will be enlarged by moving the windows out to the edge of the building's frame. You can see how they're currently recessed in this photo: http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/Images/Buildings/UniversityofHouston/UHHilton-001.jpg Sample room post-renovation: http://cnhiltoncollege.smugmug.com/photos/572924577_bJVNP-M.jpg http://cnhiltoncollege.smugmug.com/photos/572924660_PCHHv-M.jpg More pics here: http://cnhiltoncollege.smugmug.com/gallery/8673583_Ny74a#572924712_r9p5v

No Photoshop trickery here. It's just Telwink and his fisheye lens capturing people waiting in Eleanor Tinsley park for the big fireworks show while a helicopter circles above waiting for the same thing.

Untitled3 copy, originally uploaded by Highway6. Highway6 goes all HDR on us to help bring out the clouds and skyline in this dramatic sky.

That's cool. I'll have to listen for that. I don't listen to WLUW normally, but maybe I will now.

This is not the building in China that fell straight over. This is one in Turkey that actually rolls over. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8179857.stm

Nice pictures. I wonder how much of that ceiling is from back when it was a bank and how much is new. For example, I don't think I've ever seen boat anchors in Islamic art before. When in a situation like that, head for the street. Once you're off their property they can't touch you (strictly speaking, they can't touch you anyway -- that's battery). If they demand to see or delete your photos, tell them to get a subpoena and send it to your lawyer. Security guards take themselves too seriously.

Remember there was a Saturday Night Live skit about this in the 70's. Eddie Murphy dressed up like a white guy and found out that white people get everything for free and everywhere is a party. It was a spoof of a TV reporter reenacting the 1961 book Black Like Me.

Engines of Our Ingenuity is brilliant. I used to listen to it every day on my way home. When I left Texas I added it to my podcast, but eventually dropped it because in the podcast version the sponsor and promo messages total three times the time actually spent on the content.

Very neat. Of course, I'm in favor of pretty much anything that isn't surface parking. And as someone who was called for jury duty in Harris County six times, I can say the current facility can use some improvement.

Regardless of whether they can prove your a citizen or not, you can only be held so long without being charged with a crime. I guess if you kept your mouth shut the crime would be disobeying the law that RedScare cited above. But as long as keeping your mouth shut doesn't count as probable cause for arrest, you're OK. Of course, the definition of "probably cause" seems pretty blurry these days.